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It was always going to be a tough ask for the boys from Birchgrove to maintain the intensity and style with which they dispatched Springwood midweek in the Tiger Turf Cup. But after 30 minutes and a player carried off with a fractured leg, another player sent off trying to fracture a leg, not to mention a goal down, it was going to take something special to turn this one around.

The game, as they often do, started at a frantic pace with both teams not giving each other any time on the ball and with the resultant pressure the ball was given away on numerous occasions. This led to the opening goal, when not only was the ball given up cheaply on the halfway line, but given to Hawkesbury's quickest player, Joey McSpeedfast! The afro-haired sprinter ran at Balmain's defence, causing them to run into each other, and paving the way for a fine angled finish. Rattled slightly, Balmain tried to get back into the game but were hampered when a tackle from behind saw the influential Jeremy Deasey carried off with what proved to be a double fracture of the leg. Balmain hardly had time to draw breath when the same type of tackle saw Matt Jaffray receive a straight red card and all of a sudden that speed-bump had become a mountain. Still the men in gold pressed on and started to threaten and, just as the bad luck had come, the good luck was taken when, in the 44th minute, burly defender Chris Grayson took it upon himself to lob the keeper from all of 35 yards with one of his "It's a shot, no cross.. I mean shot" goals!

It was the break Balmain needed and from there took the game by the scruff of the neck. Suddenly there was cohesion and zip about Balmain's play and even though it was only 10 men playing it looked like 13 with Hawkesbury being pushed further and further back. The impressive Julian Bracewell was causing all sorts of problems up front and created a chance for Johnny Buonavoglia to fire Balmain into a 76th minute lead. It was now all Balmain, with Hawkesbury too reliant on set piece plays, but with Ault sending everything back with interest, they never stood a chance. Again some great interchange play between Buonavoglia and Bracewell carved out a chance for Hardwick to shoot across goal which was only parried by the keeper to a grateful Bracewell to finish off with the easiest of tap ins.

Final score 3-1 Balmain and a fine victory it was, with Daniel Ault being awarded the Exchange hotel Man of The Match for another solid performance. On a disappointing note, Jeremy Deasey will be going under the knife this week to reset his leg. We all wish him a speedy recovery and dedicate this victory to him.

In the lead-up fixture, the reserves maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable 4-2 victory. Despite dominating from the get-go, Balmain gave away a needless goal against the run of play which, sad to say, has happened with alarming regularity for the reserves this season. Balmain reasserted their dominance and were soon back in the lead with Daniel Totaro providing two examples of exemplary finishing within the space of a couple of minutes - one a left foot drive past the keeper and the other a super header across the face of goal into the corner. Admir Smajovic grabbed himself a double in the second half as the Tigers eased to a 4-1 lead, before the team conceded a sloppy late consolation goal in injury time. Balmain go into the bye weekend with a 5 point lead and, with a bit of work on the defensive side of the game, look certain to challenge for hours once again this season.

Balmain faced 1st division Springwood away in the shadow of the Blue Mountains on Tuesday night in the first round of the Tiger Turf cup. Not only did they face higher division opposition, but also a cup hoodoo that has seen Balmain out in the first round for the past 4 years. The "carrot at the end of the tunnel" (to ham-fistedly mix a metaphor) for the victors was a glamour fixture against ex-NSL and now NSW Premier League heavyweights Marconi Stallions. Greeted by an opposition manager who eagerly shared his plans with super-coach Kaltenegger for renovating his changing rooms for next round's visit by Marconi, Springwood clearly felt Balmain were nothing but a speed bump on the road to greater glories. Read on to find out what happened...

Give this old timer a moment or two while I reminisce, but in my 15 years associated with this humble club it has always been about "The Spirit" The Passion, "The Heart", if you will. Well now down at Birchgrove they're talking about the football!

On Tuesday night Balmain played one of the most total games of football I have ever seen, against not only a first division side in Springwood, but a team who have played 4 more competition games than the men in orange. The first 35 minutes of the game would have been very pleasing, if not frustrating, for Balmain as for all their possession and fast, neat, interchanging play the scores remained 0-0. Deasey and Modena were easily accounting for any wide attack that Springwood so relied on and at the same time were mounting raid after raid down either wing. With a little of that match fitness taking effect, Springwood started to come into the game and put some attacking plays together and the half time whistle was a welcome sound for the Tigers.

As the first half had ended the second began the same with The Woodys mounting an aerial bombardment and in the 52nd minute after Delaney had saved brilliantly (that's why I slagged him in the last report!) a cross from the right saw a Springwood toe divert the ball into the corner. Stunned, but not out, Balmain regrouped quickly and started to apply the pressure but it was obvious it needed that height, that muscle, that enforcement that is Lozza Merlino! The introduction of the big man started to give something for the Tigers to aim at and while Springwood were double man marking him, an unsung hero from the back in Dan Ault steamed in with a header from a Deasey corner to level the scores 1-1.

Not content with that, Balmain forged on and for Springwood the ball was like a hot potato with relentless pressure being applied. Some great work by Parelli released Bracewell down the line and with a defender to beat the wily attacker managed to shimmy his way past his man, take the ball into the box and play an inch-perfect cross to Hardwick, whose momentum and right peg smashed the ball into the right hand corner. Delirium broke out as all 20 supporters (that's including the players, coach and trainer) went berserk! With 14 minutes remaining Balmain held on for what, I have to say, is one of the best victories I have ever been associated with at this club. Hanging on and closing down and snatching a sneaky 1-0 win against a higher placed team is all well and good in cup football, but to do it with style is something else.

And so now we join "The Big Boys" of the Premier League and we face a tough task against Marconi Stallions. Should we win that I want AC Milan in the next round!

In a match that was billed as "A Close One", Balmain easily accounted for Roosters FC last Sunday by 4 goals to 2. The Tigers were greeted on their trip to Auburn by a sizeable crowd, a scorching sunny day, and a lightning fast pitch on which you could have played a great game of bowls.

A goal in the first half by Hardwick involving good interchange play with Bracewell was cancelled out before the break when a schoolboy refereeing error allowed a roosters player to take a free kick whilst the ball was trickling? rolling? ..I'll go with speeding down the line, and the resulting pass was smashed into the top corner by a Roosters forward.

Not letting it get to them (too much), Balmain emerged in the 2nd half and took the game by the scruff of the neck, totally dominating play. It was now that the Roosters realised how much running they had done to keep up with the Tigers in the first half and, within the space of 7 minutes, Johnny Buonavoglia had converted a penalty and superbly hit an angled drive that gave the keeper no chance. At 3-1 the Balmain boys kept applying the pressure and should have put the game away long before Delaney fumbled a cross and presented Roosters with a soft goal. This seem to stir the Tigers even more and before you could say cluck cluck Hatzidavid popped up in the area with an unmarked header to put the game out of reach. Man of the Match once again was hard to pick but through his tireless and inaudible performance in midfield, the beer went to Graeme Shannon.

In the lead-up game, the reserves struggled to beat the heat early as the mercury entered the 30s. Another goalkeeping blunder saw them concede early to a harmless hoof up the middle but Admir Samjovic was able to beat the offside trap and calmly round the keeper to make it 1-1. Balmain wasted a string of chances both before and after half time and with 5 minutes remaining it looked as if the 3 points would slip away. But Smajovic popped up late with a surging counter-attack through the middle and finished with aplomb to give the Tigers a deserved 2-1 victory.

Birchgrove turned it on for the season opener against Bathurst on Saturday, with the travelling side greeted with sunshine, the harbour dazzling in the sun, and a near perfect pitch. One of the worst things a team can endure is to spend 4 pre-season months training hard and not perform on their first day of the season! Well you needn't have worried dear reader, as that fear was put to rest as early as the 58th minute as Balmain scored their fourth and cruised to victory in the season opener with Bathurst.

Without this reporter sounding too smug it was a performance that promised much for the long season ahead but still, as always, left room for improvement.
Both teams started at a breakneck speed with Bathurst flexing their physical strength which, to their credit, took Balmain time to adjust to. But when they did it saw Balmain take the lead with a handball decision that to be fair, could have gone either way, but as the score-line suggests it was the Tigers day! Up stepped Johnny Buonavoglia (yes that's right) to coolly slot Balmain into a 1-0 lead.

It was now time for the men in gold to flex their superiority but in the form of fast attacking play that saw Carl Modena create a bit of magic in the box followed by a thunderous volley onto the bar. The pressure was rewarded when Buonavogolia (seriously I'm not kidding) milked a penalty and teased the keeper with the resulting kick via the post. The half time score was 2-0 to Balmain.

After many uses of the metaphor "weather the first 10 minutes as they'll be up for it" it was Balmain who came out and duly sealed the game within 13 minutes of the restart. Firstly a great move down the right resulted in cross from Modena that was passed on by Buonavoglia (for the last time!) for the rampant Jeremy Deasey to slot between the keeper's legs for 3-0. Then what was to be the goal of the game, the Raging Bull that is for ever Lozza Merlino stormed into the box, went down, appealed, got up, went down again, appealed again, then got up again and scored quite the quintessential Balmain Goal!! Blood, sweat and determination! The rent-a-crowd made up of Lozza's relatives duly acknowledged the mighty man with a hot pink banner stating "we love you Lozza".

Balmain simply shut up shop for the remaining half hour, with the impressive Dan Ault winning everything at the back and the hard working trio of Shannon, Jaffray and Merlino covering midfield. Coach Kaltenegger calmly sat back in his chair and contemplated a nice schnitzel his lovely partner Mel was cooking for him that night! The Exchange Hotel man of the match award went to Jeremy Deasey for his end to end performance although it could have gone to any of the 11 that started that day.

In the earlier action, the game started promisingly for both reserve teams, sharing equal possession and creating openings at either end. As the half progressed Balmain worked their way in to the match with some neat passing creating a string of chances but enjoyed no reward. Half time score: 0-0.

Bathurst had looked dangerous on the break in the first half, and proved so when they turned a defensive corner into attack as a lone striker worked an inch of space inside the box and rifled a shot at Matt Mulhall, who could only delay it's progress into the back of the net. The Tigers fought back and it wasn't long before Sasha Emedi, who had been a bit hot and cold in the first half, saw his stinging shot deflect off a Bathurst defender's leg and into the goal. It was now time for Balmain to turn the screws, but instead they found themselves a goal down again, courtesy of another Bathurst counter-attack from a defensive corner resulting in a mix-up at the back, leaving the keeper stranded and an easy opportunity for the Bathurst striker.

Ivan Djambazov was not going to let this one slip away in his debut performance as Reserves Coach, and his three quick substitutions had an immediate effect. Owen Nalhony, replacing Emedia up front, charged into the box before being clumsily brought down by a young Bathurst defender. Daniel Totaro stepped up to dispatch the penalty for 2-2. Then with literally the last play of the game it was Bathurst's turn to be caught on the break. Nalhony worked the ball wide to Hardwick who beat his marker to the by-line, cut the ball back straight at a Bathurst defender who obligingly stepped over the ball, leaving David Parelli 2 yards out with an open goal. The final whistle blew moments after the restart with a relieved Balmain side victorious by 3 goals to 2.